Developers of Gateway Sports Village, a $234 million mixed-use project anchored by soccer fields that's been referred to as the biggest development in Grandview, say they're at "the end of our rope" and need $8 million from the city.

That request is on top of a $43 million tax increment financing plan, which uses new property and economic activity taxes generated by the project to reimburse the developers. Grandview approved that plan shortly after Gateway Sports Village was announced in 2016.

Construction started early in 2017 and an initial phase was to have opened that fall, but work has stalled and the project is now behind schedule.

How do you start work on a $234 million project and get hung up over $8 million? That’s like not building a $250,000 home because you can’t afford fancy landscaping.

Cotton told the Grandview Board of Aldermen at a work session meeting earlier this month that the developers had spent $7 million so far and that banks have been reluctant to lend money to public infrastructure improvements that would support the project. Cotton added that the developers have exhausted their pre-development credit.

"I don't know how I can make that any clearer: We can no longer afford to make those payments as a developer," Cotton told Grandview officials.

PG LLC's $8 million ask is not insignificant in the context of Grandview's budget. Grandview brings in $15 million a year from revenues including property, sales and franchise taxes.

Did I just read that right, banks are finally not willing to lend money to yet another retail center, yet another soccer village (OP, KCK, Swope, Lee’s Summit, Olathe), yet another multi hundred room hotel building that would probably be used by the soccer field users and an apartment unit project. And it’s basically sitting ten minutes from two other projects.

That not a problem with the roads, that’s a problem with the entire project. They would loan money for 3.4% of the cost if they thought the project had merit. It’s not like

And now they want Grandview to give them the money? That’s some ego.

"The bottom line is they're trying to finalize their financing and they need more help from us," said Valerie Poindexter, a spokeswoman for Grandview.

Maybe next time don’t approve the project until financing is finalized??? Especially not one so big.
A bad deal and this causes problems for Grandview for decades.

Compare this project to Three Light. Imagine a downtown developer request for half of the annual city budget.

Something tells me a lot of cities have been hoodwinked into super expensive soccer complexes.

Its not just soccer its happening to all sports and its hitting towns all over the country, in fact this would be a great John Oliver segment. The traveling sports industrial complex is a fricking scam and parents are wasting thousands on their kids for this scam of traveling/club sports. Local sports leagues will be gone soon and it will soon threaten high school sports because of this traveling club sports scam going on right now. Its makes me sick. Real Sports on HBO has a good segment on this.

Real Sports Video - talks about how these other cities in Podunk Kentucky and Indiana doing these same complexes. Its a bubble that's gonna burst.https://youtu.be/9ATwFkYpVys

All they gotta do is show the show that Real Sports Video and the Grandview Leadership will say no instantly. For every Grandview trying to do this about a 100 other cities are trying to do the same thing.